Coinbase has announced the launch of Convert a new service that allows customers to convert one cryptocurrency into another at a lower cost than if completed in two separate transactions Customers can now instantly convert between bitcoin and ethereum ethereum classic litecoin 0x or bitcoin cash BCH on both Coinbasecom and in the companys iOS and Android apps Well be gradually rolling out the ability to convert cryptocurrencies to customers in all 34 countries in which Coinbase offers native payment access the firm said in a blog post Well gather customer feedback along the way and continue to iterate on the feature over time Our product teams are thinking deeply about new ways to democratize the best of cryptocurrency and the ability to easily convert one asset to another is an important step on this path In other news Overstock s investment wing Medici Ventures announced that it has bought a 296 percent stake in Chainstone Labs a digital securities startup Medici acquired the stake through the purchase of digital tokens representing 36 million shares Chainstone is led by Bruce Fenton CEO at the Atlantic Financial Blockchain Labs founder of The Satoshi Roundtable conference and a Medici board member We believe that digital securities are a far superior model to old ways of moving securities Since this is our business focus its a natural fit to have our own equity digitized into a securities token Fenton told CoinDesk through a spokesperson Overstock is planning to launch a security token marketplace in January with its tZERO token In fact it was recently reported that the company plans to sell its retail business with a deal taking place in the next few months so it can focus solely on its blockchain initiatives Yet Medici has been burning cash since its lauch in 2014 For the first three quarters of 2018 it lost around 39 million which is in addition to the 22 million it lost in 2017 But Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne isnt deterred I dont care whether tZERO is losing 2 million a month Byrne said in an interview We think weve got cold fusion on the blockchain side LATEST INSIGHTS Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation thats reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem Check out the latest PYMNTS report on healthcare digital identity